TIWTW
by ABCSKW123-IX
Summary: discontinued! This is being rewritten! Read the newer version!
1. Rumor Has It

**(A/N): Oh gosh, what is this madness. I'm** _ **actually**_ **writing a fic.**

 **And attempting to stick to it. Wow. ...Anyways, this is hopefully going to be a long fanfic. I will warn you though. Updates will be sloooow. I have put things on hiatus for over a year before.**

 **Anyways, this is an idea that's been bouncing in my head for a while, so I decided to try it! You might recognize where this idea is from; if you do, great. :)  
Disclaimer: Unoriginal ideas in here belong to the Hageman brothers and Tomoyoshi.**

* * *

 _A deserted house in the mountains about an hour from New Ninjago City._

* * *

Trees, houses, rivers, all flashed by in a blur of green and blue and marbled patches of other colors. Wind blew into its pointed face, over its streamlined body, helping it forward. A flap of black wings, all parts and gears, propelled it forward, into a thick spot of forest. Slowing, lowering in altitude, flapping its wings to control the partial descent, before spreading them again and resuming flight.

Something twitched in the corner of its vision.

A black-feathered head turned towards the miniscule disturbance. Two clawed legs reached for a branch, the rest of it perching soon after. Two eyes glowed faintly blue, illuminating the bark of the trees in the otherwise dark area, and scanned the area.

Nothing.

A rustle in the leaves below.

When the sound registered, it found itself face to face with two empty, black abysses.

It was the only warning it received.

* * *

 _No one knows how long it has been there or who used to live in it._

* * *

"Whoa. _That_ is a huge mansion."

Four people stood in front of a old, large mansion that had probably been painted white once (now, the paint was a bit faded, and peeling in some places.) For a few moments, they just stood, letting the wind blow their clothes and hair a bit to one side, and dead leaves from the trees, whose thick, dark green leaves blocked out the sun almost completely and left the sky a dark grey. A patch of sunlight fell on an auburn brown head of hair, making it shine bronze in the dim forest.

The brown-haired boy spoke up, breaking the silence, blue eyes gleaming. "I know. Those rumors about this place are _really_ something, aren't they?"

The person on his right, dressed in red with spiky, dark brown hair, turned to him, looking faintly deprecating. "Don't get your hopes too high up, Jay. Some of those _rumors_ were pretty ridiculous if you ask me. I mean, a monster that hunts down anyone in there? Who do they think they're fooling?"

"I would not be so quick to dismiss these rumors, Kai. There may be an element of truth to them," remarked the boy on Jay's left. A patch of sunlight hit his shoulder, and it glinted a metallic silver.

To his left, Cole nodded. "Zane's right. We thought dragons and Serpentine were just stories. Look how that turned out."

Kai seemed to consider this for a second. "...I guess. Besides, it _is_ pretty creepy-looking," he added with a smirk. "Who knows, maybe going in there will show us who the real men are."

"...I do not understand. Are we not all fully-grown already?"

"It's a saying, Zane, it means...uh, it means-oh, never mind," Jay muttered.

Cole tilted his head up, scrutinizing the mansion from top to bottom. "We know the plan, right? We find Lloyd's group, inspect the place, see if there's anything interesting, and leave. We have a duty to protect Ninjago-" He stopped when he heard a soft 'hah' come from someone, almost like a laugh. "Did you say something, Jay?"

Said ninja looked up and shook his head. "No...keep going."

"Like I was saying," Cole continued. "We have a duty to protect Ninjago so we can't leave it unwatched too long. And I need to eat some cake when I get back to the Bounty."

Kai promptly facepalmed.

Jay held up the phone he liked to carry around in his pocket while holding the book he'd taken with him in his other hand-the screen showed the connection he had established with the falcon rather recently (with Zane's permission, of course.) The blue light from the screen washed over their faces and glowed eerily in the greyness of the sky.

"The falcon is flying around here to check for things, right, Zane?"

Zane nodded, following the motion of the red dot that represented his falcon with his eyes.

Cole spoke up. "I think we've got everything under control for now. We go in, meet up with Lloyd, Skylor, and Karlof, look around, and come back out after a while. We have Zane's falcon to warn us about stuff and contact the Bounty if we need to. There isn't anything that could go wrong."

"Don't say that!" At the note of emotion in his voice, everyone stared at him in surprise. Hurriedly trying to explain himself, he added, "You'll just jinx any luck we have! If there's one thing to learn from Murphy's Law" -here Jay stopped and continued in an overly-serious, dramatic voice- "it's that there is always something that could go wrong."

Kai and Cole rolled their eyes.

"Stop worrying, Jay," Kai said, voice a bit softer. "You too, Cole. We'll be fine. Let's go in."

With that, Kai gingerly opened the door. When it opened without so much as a creak, he walked in. Zane went in after him, shortly followed by Cole, who both took a swift look at the outdoors before going in.

Jay waited a moment more to go inside, looking at the mansion as Cole had earlier, something flickering in his eyes. Then, putting the phone in his pocket and clutching the weathered book tightly, he walked in and closed the door, not looking back.

* * *

 _Rumors said that it was...haunted._


	2. Unsuspected Threats

The first thing Zane noticed when he walked inside the mansion was how much space there was inside it. For all its towering, old, extravagant glory that he'd seen it with while outside, it was surprisingly plain-looking, with its high ceilings and white walls and wooden flooring. Even so, he could not help but feel small….and a bit nervous; not so much so as to say he was _afraid_ , but still nervous.

One of the next things he noticed was that his sixth sense felt quite muted (even more so than it usually did nowadays) and wasn't telling him very much about the large building he currently stood in. After he'd been rebuilt, his sense hadn't been as powerful as it had been when he'd looked a bit more normal. Sometime along the way, he had grown weary of trying to find the same strong foresight he had once had and become resigned to the fact that his sixth sense would likely never be as strong again.

Really, it seemed a bit ironic. When he'd found out he was, in fact, a nindroid, what he'd wanted more than anything, so badly it hurt, was to be normal-to be human. With the support of his friends, he'd grown accustomed to himself, accepted he would never be normal, and behaved like he was perfectly alright with it, keeping all the misgivings that came up here and there to himself. Then came the time when he sacrificed himself to the Digital Overlord when all else had seemed lost, with the thought that he would never come back, but at least he had left the world protecting Ninjago like he considered it his duty to do. (Truth be told, below all the grief that he felt leaving his brothers and P.I.X.A.L., maybe some small, guilty part of him had felt just a touch relieved. Maybe he'd felt relieved because he wouldn't have to outlive his brothers and watch everyone he knew grow old and wither away and then get taken away by death...even if it meant death had to take _him_ away, so be it.) And then, suddenly feeling himself fade back into consciousness, in a whole other body, suddenly existing, suddenly physically _being_ again….and once Zane could say he'd gotten used to the robotic interior beneath the deceptively normal surface, he'd lost everything he'd taken for granted about his appearance. And he had to get used to it all over again.

"Hey, Zane! You're lookin' a bit spacy there. You okay?" A familiar voice broke him from his train of contemplation. Zane blinked and looked to his right.

Cole had put a hand on his shoulder, and was looking at him with concern. Zane did his best to rid his head of the thoughts that had just gone through it; he found that brooding over his differences only set him up to feel worse and worse, and those were feelings he preferred left alone, not allowed to be brought to the surface. Let them sit inside him, hidden behind some switch he knew nothing of.

"Yes, I am alright. I was merely thinking about the state of the mansion."

Cole nodded, either believing him or to deciding not to ask any further. "Yeah, it's really….empty. And there's so much space in here."

Zane looked around briefly, concentrating a bit on everything around him, trying to sense anything unusual. He soon felt apprehension, a sense of fear…

There was something more to the big, abandoned mansion then he knew.

He couldn't stand not knowing things. He wanted to explore, find out more about why he was sensing these things.

Cole interrupted the silence again. "Hey, do you sense anything?"

"Yes-I can sense...fear. But I am not sure why."

"You too, huh?" Zane looked at Cole in surprise, not understanding what his friend had meant by the statement. Cole quickly elaborated, "I get the feeling that something's not right here….I dunno why. It's kinda….really creepy."

"...I hope Lloyd's group is faring alright."

"Yeah, me too. Something tells me staying here long isn't a good idea."

Kai suddenly approached them, Jay at his heels. "Man, this place is big. Searching it all might take longer than I thought."

"Yeah, about that," Cole interjected, "I….don't really like the vibes this place is giving me. I think we should find Lloyd as soon as possible and leave."

"I dunno," Jay murmured, "this place looks kinda cool. Who knows, we might actually find something cool in here!"

"Are you _scared_ , Cole?" Kai challenged, a teasing glint in his eye.

Cole's eyes widened slightly at the accusation. "Wha-no! It's just that I don't think it's-"

The sound of something shattering into tens of small pieces in another room interrupted them, sending them all into shocked silence.

Jay was the first one to break it. "What was...that?"

"I cannot be sure, but it would appear to be coming from that room. I will check what made that sound and return." Zane turned to walk across the large room into a narrower hallway.

"Be careful!" he heard Kai call after him, followed by a "Oh, so _now_ you're worried," from Jay.

* * *

The hallway was long, and he was not walking particularly quickly, so it took him a couple minutes to reach the source of the sound: a...kitchen?

That was what the room most resembled, with cabinets lining the far end of the room, below counters and a sink. Above them, and in other parts of the room as well, were cupboards, all closed. On one of the side walls was another door.

Zane's normal method of taking in every detail was forgone in favor of finding what had shattered. His gaze wandered the room for a couple moments before he found it-a ceramic plate, now in pieces and shards, near the sink.

 _'If it's broken, then that must mean that something pushed this plate off of the counters. But I can sense no one here-no one in Lloyd's group could have done it,'_ he thought. ' _So why did it break?'_

"These shards may be useful for something," he murmured aloud, breaking the (eerily still) quiet that had settled in the air again, only having been disturbed by the plate's shattering. He gingerly picked up a handful of the shards that ranged from small to medium-sized, opened up a small storage compartment in his arm that he'd recently discovered, and placed them inside. Exactly what he would use them for, he could not say. Maybe he'd find some purpose for them later.

There was nothing else really worth noting about the kitchen, so Zane turned and walked back to the central room where everyone else was.

...Only to find that there was no longer anyone there.

Had they left? Without him? It didn't quite seem plausible, even if they'd found Lloyd's group. For one thing, he was quite sure his auditory sensors would have detected the noise a group of people as large as that would make even despite the distance between the large room and the kitchen; for another, they were too close-knit of a team for them to leave him behind like that.

He walked back to the large front doors and pulled on the handles. Surprisingly, they wouldn't budge.

 _'How will we go out later, if our exit route is blocked? At least, I now know they are still inside this mansion, so the only thing left to do is to check the other hallways.'_ Thinking this, Zane walked through another hallway, to the left of the room. This one opened up to an average-sized room, with a drawer and a clock above it, and a flight of stairs that went up.

He felt oddly compelled to go up the stairs, but just as he made to walk up them, something flickered in the shadows at the corner of his vision.

Zane froze.

From where he was, he had a good view of most of the room, as well as most of the hallway he had come from. He could see something lurking in the shadows that cloaked the entrance of the room, large and gray. It remained standing there for a moment or two; then, the seconds seeming agonizingly long, it turned and walked away, seemingly disinterested. Zane dared not breathe the entire time. (Had P.I.X.A.L. still been in his head, she might have said something about the way his fear levels were rising.)

 _'What was that?'_ He thought, eager to find a way to explain the apparition that had been there a moment ago. _'Perhaps one of the others...'_ he shook his head. _'No. Somehow I know it was not one of them. But then what...? ...My first priority is to find everyone else. Even if that unidentified creature is hostile, I will stand a better chance fighting alongside my brothers.'_

He turned and walked up the stairs.

* * *

The format of the floor he was on now was a bit different from the floor below him. He had found two kitchens and a bathroom, and searched them for signs of his friends and/or anything useful. So far, he'd seen neither.

Finally, he found a lead in the next room he walked in. The door to it was slightly ajar, and near it lay a gleaming blade attached to a handle.

A scythe.

Zane bent over and picked it up, handling it carefully. _'Is this not Cole's scythe? Either he is inside this room, or...or something has happened to him.'_ A small shudder traveled down his mechanical spine at the thought. _'It will not benefit anyone to think like that. I must check to see if he is in here before I try to figure anything out.'_ He held the scythe with one hand as he turned the knob and opened the door with the other hand.

This room had a drawer and a clock inside it as well. The difference was the one-mattress bed to the side, almost in a corner. Zane sighed with disappointment. Cole was not inside here, either.

A glint caught his attention. There, in the other end of the room, at the corner, was yet another door. This one was quite different from the others in that it seemed to be made out of iron.

He turned the knob.

* * *

Light filtered into the dark space beyond the iron door; it didn't go far enough to illuminate much more than the area immediately behind the door. Zane blinked, letting his optical sensors adjust to the dimness and changing the amount of light his eyes gave off accordingly.

There, hidden in the darkness, his back suit making him almost invisible even to Zane's eyes, was Cole.

"Cole! It is good that you are okay," he said. Cole's eyes looked up at him from where he was huddled. "I had begun to worry when I'd gotten back from checking that kitchen and no one was there."

No response.

"...Cole?"

Looking closer, Zane realised his back-clad brother was shaking ever so slightly.

Concerning. Cole was never quick to show his fear, preferring to hide it and channel it as power when he fought.

"Heh, s-sorry," Cole apologized, smiling weakly. "I just got a bit startled."

"Startled?" Zane had noticed the way Cole's voice shook a little, and how quiet it was.

"Y-yeah. Hey, is that my scythe?"

Suddenly reminded of the object in his hand, Zane held it out to Cole, who took it with a look of relief on his face.

"Thanks a ton, bud. I dropped it while I was coming up here. Anyway, Zane, I found a key while I came up here. There's a door downstairs, a-and I think that the key I found opens it. Do you think you could try to open it...and try to find the others while you're at it?"

"I don't have any problem with it," Zane replied, taking the key from Cole's outstretched hand. "Let's go."

"A-Actually..." Cole started. Zane turned to him in surprise. "I'm not quite feeling ready to do any exploring just yet," he continued. "Would you mind if I stayed in here just a little longer? ...I'll go with you once you get back from unlocking that room."

Zane thought it over. He had sensed during the course of their conversation that Cole had been scared, and hiding something from him. What it could be, he wasn't sure, but maybe Cole would say something if he went downstairs and came back. There didn't seem to be any harm done in the request-and he would have the opportunity to look for the rest of his friends, knowing Cole was safe.

"Alright," he said at last. Cole smiled at him. "I will try to return as quickly as possible."

* * *

Zane found himself in the same large room he had seen when he'd entered the building. If the door that Cole's key unlocked was somewhere on this floor, the main room was a pretty good place to start looking.

A door in the side of the wall caught his attention. Strange, he'd never seen it before that moment.

He walked over cautiously, slid the key and in, and twisted the knob.

It opened.

Zane stopped in his tracks at the sight before him. The room hidden behind the door was a bit larger than the room with the iron door and the bed, but to one side of it lay shelves upon shelves, all with the spines of books crowding up the space on them, giving it the appearance of a small library. The sight was almost welcoming, and had his situation been a bit more ideal, he would have definitely taken the time to skim through the titles, and perhaps read the more interesting ones.

There was also a table to the other side of the room, that was completely barren of anything, except a single onigiri.

That was odd. (The ninja ate onigiri, yes, but not often. Their meals were so varied that onigiri simply wasn't a big option.) Where would the onigiri have come from? _'Perhaps one of the others left it here? Or someone in Lloyd's group? Either way,'_ he thought, taking the onigiri and tucking it away safely, _'I'll take it with me. When I find who this onigiri belongs to, I will return it to them.'_

Zane sensed, rather than heard, the door open slightly.

He tensed. Was it someone he knew? Had it been one of his friends, they would have most likely announced their presence.

He turned around slowly, barely breathing, not making a sound, and the sight before him sent his anxiety levels spiking.

A large, vaguely human-like, translucent figure towered in the doorway, casting a pale shadow over the wooden floor. Where its heart would have been glowed a multi-colored ball, something like a core, throbbing with movement. Its black eyes were bottomless abysses, gleaming menacingly.

Zane's breath hitched in his throat. As mechanical as he was, he could still feel the twisting feeling of his innards and the quickening of his breath as his optical sensors took in the sight of the beast standing there. He'd never seen anything like it before, and nothing he came up with could explain it. Was it a ghost? A spirit, or a faerie of some kind? Gears turned in his head as he reached for all the supernatural knowledge he had, but nothing clicked.

The sound of a footstep shook Zane out of his reverie. On instinct, Zane's hand flew to where he kept his pair of (non-exploding) shuriken, nervously keeping his eye on the beast.

He was surprised when it opened its mouth, and four words came out, menacing, low, rough, sounding more like it was speaking inside his head.

" _YoU wILL nOT EscAPE._ "

Zane felt his eyes widen as he took a step back. What did it mean by that? What if-

The thing took another step, and another, advancing towards him. Zane turned and ran behind a bookshelf; it advanced towards him, faster and faster, and he cursed his moment of bad judgement as he realized he was trapped between it, the shelf, and the wall. At that point, his only choice was to try to run out from under it.

….Of course, his foot would choose now of all times to have some obscure little gear in it lock up and make him trip.

Zane picked himself up as fast as he could, nervously looking over his shoulder. The monster loomed over him, glaring at him in a very intimidating manner for a moment. Then, it reached forward with a pale, shimmering hand that _shifted_ into long, sharp claws - and swiped. The movement was so quick he barely caught it in time to jump back and avoid being shredded.

He would have no choice but to fight it, then.

"Ninjaaaa _go!_ " He spun around, forming the icy vortex of Spinjitzu.

...Or at least, he should've.

Zane winced as he hit the floor, picking himself up and quickly trying to back away from the thing, his thoughts a worried frenzy. _Why isn't my Spinjitzu working!? If I can't use Spinjitzu, then...no. I have to calm down. I can ask Cole when I get back to him, but for now, I need to fight. I can still defeat this monster._

Forced to use his weapons, he grabbed the shuriken on his belt and threw them, aiming for the thing's shoulders. As always, they hit their mark, and it cried in pain, oozing an odd grayish blood-like substance, before shaking them off.

He stared in awe for a moment. _'If it managed to shake off my shuriken and take such a low amount of damage, then it must have been quite powerful.'_ His thoughts were interrupted when it swiped at him again; however, this time it hit its mark.

As the claws made contact with the cloth and metal near his chest, making him stagger backwards, Zane gasped in pain and hunched over, dropping the shuriken. The sensation was vaguely like burning water, and it _stung_. All the while, he was painfully aware of how vulnerable he was and how easily the thing could finish him off. However, after a few moments had passed, the pain faded to a biting, but tolerable level. The monster hadn't yet made another attack, since it had been walking to where he'd stepped back.

He took the opportunity to ready up a pair of explosive ninja stars and throw those at the thing. They lodged themselves near its stomach and blew up. When the small amount of smoke cleared, Zane was quite relieved to see that the shuriken had caused more damage than his normal pair had.

Again, the thing aimed for him. Prepared for the blow, he jumped away it, then also dodged the counterstrike. The third lash-out, however, caught him in almost the same area as last time. Zane tried to throw the shuriken in his hands at the things as he stumbled and fell. The 'boom' and the smoke that came afterwards registered faintly through the haze of pain he felt.

When the pain had once again faded to a tolerable level, he gingerly got up and looked at the spot the monster had been in. He barely caught the thing fading away and leaving no trace it had ever been there except for the scuff and burn marks on the wooden floor caused by his shurikens. Caught off guard by the odd occurrence, he stared at it for a moment before deciding there was no point in trying to investigate, much as he wanted to. He had defeated it, but he needed to go find his friends, make sure they were alright and hadn't been hurt by the thing as well….Zane took a step, and winced. Right. He also needed to do something about his damaged chest, and perhaps check to see if anything inside him had been badly damaged.

He would have time to do that outside the room. Zane made to grab the key that opened the library's door, only to discover it was no longer with him. He looked around briefly, and seeing a glint near the wall where he'd been cornered, he carefully walked over and picked it up.

On an impulse, he took the onigiri out from where he'd been keeping it. (It looked quite tasty to him at that point, although he wasn't quite sure why that was.) He then proceeded to take a bite out of it.

He was surprised to feel a wave of strength wash over him.

...Had eating the rice ball done that? He took another bite, and felt another flow of energy surge through him.

It seemed that somehow, the onigiri he'd eaten had the ability to heal. Everything in this place was strange.


	3. Reunion

**AN: I'm going on the first floor being the same as ground floor.**

* * *

His feet led him to the door of the room that housed the iron door (closet? Who could be sure?)

Oh.

Should he go in and talk to Cole about what he'd encountered? ...After deliberating for a moment, Zane decided that he should probably come back when he'd found someone else. The chances of that….thing finding Cole in there were slim.

And also, he considered as he turned and walked to his left, Cole _had_ seemed like he was hiding something. The temptation to go back and ask was surprisingly hard to ignore, but if he allowed himself to come to conclusions:

Cole had been acting jittery, first of all. That never happened, and only something very frightening would be able to faze him.

In addition to feeling fear, he'd been hiding. But the only reason he'd have to hide was because something was chasing him….

He'd also been trying to hide something. Zane had no idea what he would have been trying to hide. Or that was how it'd been. There was only one inference he could reach based on Cole's behavior that made sense:

He'd also run into that monster.

Although why Cole would try to keep something like that hidden was a mystery. He normally had good enough sense to decide what to say and what not to say. And although it was an extremely rare feeling, he felt the smallest amount of resentment start to rise up in him. _'A warning before I had encountered that creature would have been nice. And even then, to hide something of such importance is not normal.'_

His sensors went off, indicating he was close to hitting a wall.

Oops.

He backed up a little, noticing he was at a bit of a dead end and could go either way. His sense was pricking in the back of his head, telling him to go right.

Walking for a little bit more, he discovered, joy of joys, another bathroom. (He noted that it was next to another flight of stairs, but he ignored them for the moment.) Feeling a bit disappointed, he flicked the switch and went in.

However, when he went inside, there was a piece of paper on the top of the toilet. He read it and frowned-he could…...exchange money for food or drinks? From a toilet? …..That gave rise to safety and hygiene concerns. He needn't have worried too much, though. On second glance, there was no water in the toilet. When he (out of curiosity) put a few cents in the bowl and flushed as per directions, onigiri and of all the things, soda seemed to magically pop up on a nearby shelf. Slightly bemused but deciding to take advantage of what he had, he took them for future use.

At least he understood the mechanics of the odd vending toilets. Perhaps if he looked around, he'd find more of them.

The lights flickered.

Zane felt his anxiety levels rising once more. Why were the lights flickering? Attempting to run a scan to detect the reason came up with nothing.

They flickered, again, and again, and then went out, plunging the room in darkness.

Quickly, Zane adjusted the light in his eyes, trying to once more see in front of his face. Gradually, semi-normal vision (albeit tinged blue, but still) returned to him. He made his way close to the door, and then flipped the switch back to 'on'.

Light flooded the room once again, and he switched the settings on his optical sensors to normal as he calmed down.

He, however, had not been expecting a familiar blur of movement in his peripheral vision. His fear spiked up again, as he turned right into two deep-set black eyes in a hideously familiar see-through face.

' _Oh no. I would much rather preserve my energy for later. Perhaps if I run, I can make it out and lose it.'_

Mechanical heart pulsing, he moved his left foot slightly closer to the door. Then his right. Then his left.

It noticed, and charged.

Barely having time to gasp, Zane sprinted out the door and through the halls, in the same direction as before-

He was forced to stop when a dead end warning blinked in his vision.

Once again, he had the choice to go either left or right. He ran left hurriedly, praying that the monster would go right and he'd lost it.

* * *

On one side of the wall, there was a door.

It was the only promising thing he'd seen since the bathroom, so cautiously, he twisted the doorknob and opened it, before closing it again and locking it. Oddly enough, the door didn't make a sound the entire time, and the click the lock made was barely audible.

The room wasn't too big-its only notable furnishment was two beds at the far end, and a table with a lamp on it.

Zane's eyes widened. Sitting on one of the beds with his head down and back to him was Kai.

But why hadn't Kai looked at him?

He took a soft step towards the bed and froze when he noticed Kai move ever so slightly.

Then he barely had time to move out of the way as the fire ninja, in the blink of an eye, got to his feet and swung his katana full force at him.

* * *

"Kai! Calm down! It's just me-Zane!"

They were frozen like that for a moment, Zane tense and surprised, with Kai's katana far too close to his chest; Kai holding the katana with an iron grip, eyes narrow, looking ready to attack within a moment's notice.

Then the ferocity smoldering in his eyes faded to familiarity and a bit of shame. "Oh….I'm sorry about that, Zane. I wouldn't have attacked if I knew it was you! ….You might think I'm crazy, but there's this weird … _thing_ roaming the place, and it attacked us, and we accidentally split up. You have to believe me, Zane!"

"I believe you," Zane murmured softly.

"You….do?" Kai asked, surprised.

Zane nodded. "In fact, I too have had an encounter with it."

"So you believe me, then! ….Wait, what happened to Cole and Jay? And have you found anyone else yet?"

"Cole is currently in a different room somewhere else on this floor; I think he is safe there. Jay I have not yet run into. As for Lloyd and the others, I have no idea as to their whereabouts."

"Man, I hope they'll be okay….." Kai muttered. "Then again, it is Lloyd and the Elemental Masters we're talking about here. I think they'll be okay until we find them. Can you take me to where Cole is?"

Zane nodded. "He is inside a small room sealed off with an iron door."

"Great, then we can-" Kai halted in the middle of his sentence. A pregnant silence settled for a moment.

"What is it?"

"Don't you hear that sound? It's like someone, some _thing's_...getting...closer….." He turned to Zane, nervousness beginning to flicker across his face. "Zane. Did you lock the door?"

"I...the door-"

The door threatened to give way as something repeatedly banged on it, sending small tremors through the room.

Just as suddenly, the banging stopped, and there was only silence.

"...Is it gone?" Kai asked, either to Zane or himself, he wasn't sure.

"Most likely, yes."

"Okay," the red ninja said, taking a breath, "we still need to find Jay. And then afterwards we have to hunt down Lloyd and the others and get out as soon as possible. ….I hope it didn't get to them."

"As do I, Kai. In that case, let's go."

* * *

A familiar tingling in his nerves indicated something was wrong, but he dismissed it and followed Kai to the door. They walked out of the room, sighing in relief.

Which was quickly replaced by fear when they saw the thing standing there.

Kai made something resembling a surprised noise and took a step back. "I thought it was gone! Probably not the best assumption, but…"

"It seems not. We'll have to defeat it in order for it to leave us alone!" Zane started to step away from Kai and circle around the thing, getting ready to attack, avoid any attacks, or defend Kai.

"It gets uglier the longer I look at it! Get your shurikens ready, Zane-unless you wanna be eaten, that is," his friend responded, readying himself as Zane was and pulling out his katana.

"I would much like to avoid that. Kai, get ready," he commanded, the fire ninja nodding and staying alert.

Zane pulled out an explosive shuriken pair and tossed them at the thing with as much speed as possible, hitting the beast square in the shoulders. Just after Kai jumped back to avoid the blast, they exploded and evaporated into smoke, leaving the thing roaring in pain.

Next, Kai made his move, leaping closer to it and repeatedly slashing it with his katana, the resulting wounds crisscrossing over its chest but not slicing all the way thing bellowed in anger and swiped with both its hands. Zane had the fortune of leaning back in time, but the other hand made swift contact with Kai's chest. Said ninja oofed as the painful impact knocked all the breath from his lungs (and possibly broke a couple ribs), and fell on his knees.

' _I have to distract it while Kai recovers!'_ Zane quickly tossed an onigiri at Kai, and yelled a quick "Eat it!" at Kai's questioning look. He didn't have time to see if Kai had done as he'd said, because instantly after, he pulled out another pair of shuriken and threw them so they landed right above Kai's slashes with his katana. When they exploded, he paused for a breath and checked to see how Kai was doing. The red ninja was standing and holding his katana again, albeit a bit more shakily than before.

Zane was about to throw his next pair of stars, before Kai shook his head and held up his katana. He wanted to land a blow, even with the injury he'd taken?

Incredible. Truly, his friend was more stubborn than anyone else he knew.

The monster attempted to charge Kai and get closer to him. Kai ran backwards, then, using the wall for support, jumped and slashed the thing's head. He landed on his feet quite hard, and staggered for a moment, panting and trying to collect himself. When he looked up, his eyes widened.

The thing was shaking its head, obviously in quite a bit of pain, roaring all the while.

He looked at Zane. Their eyes met.

…." _Its weakness is its head._ "

Zane gestured for Kai to stay put and rest a little. The thing turned and made a move to hit him, but he dodged at the last moment. Swiftly running a little to its side, he jumped and threw the ninja stars at its head. It cried out again as they hit their mark and went off.

When the smoke faded, he saw that the monster had disappeared with it once more. It was a bit alarming that it had the ability to do that, to say the least, but they had defeated it. That was all that mattered for now.

He turned towards Kai, noticing that the fire ninja was panting, head slightly down, and staying upright only thanks to him leaning against the wall with one hand.

"Kai." Said ninja looked up at Zane, who walked over and handed him another onigiri.

"You were injured rather badly," he asked. "Are you alright?"

"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine," Kai mumbled around a mouthful of rice ball. "Better, with this. ...Man, they're good! Where'd you get them?"

Zane started walking in the direction of Cole's hideout, confident now that Kai would be alright. "Come on. I will explain on the way."

* * *

"This is where Cole is." Zane gestured to the iron door in front of him.

"A room inside a room, huh? It does look pretty safe. Hey, Cole! Are you in there?"

There was a soft squeal of hinges, and both ninja stepped back as the door creaked open. Cole's face registered relief as he took in the sight of Kai. "Kai! You're okay! You look like a mess, though. ….Did you run into anything?"

"Yes, we did," Zane remarked coolly, subtly letting on his annoyance at Cole's neglecting to tell him.

"...Right. I'm sorry, Zane. I would have told you, but...you noticed how fried I was, right? I didn't really feel up to talking about it at all." Cole let himself trail off at the end. Zane nodded and smiled softly to let him know the apology was accepted.

"Trust me, we were more of a mess _before_ we got here." Kai's tone was half-joking - Zane recalled his slightly incredulous reaction to the food and drinks having the ability to heal. The other two couldn't help chuckling along with him.

"We still have not found Jay, though," Zane pointed out once their laughter had died down.

"Yeah…" Cole agreed. "Plus, we should probably look for everyone else, too - I tried calling them, but there's no signal for my phone. Has _anyone_ seen them?" His only replies were shakes of the head from his friends.

Zane thought over it for a moment before he spoke. "Perhaps we should search the next floor? If there is no one else here, it only makes sense to keep looking up."

"Hmmm, okay. I know where the stairs are," Kai announced, turning and walking towards said stairs.

Another flight of stairs were visible as soon as the trio finished climbing up the last one.

Kai said they should check the fourth floor, since there wasn't much to the third one in terms of hallways. "Besides, if Jay was here, we'd hear him," he added, half-jokingly.

Cole argued that it was best to check the third floor anyway, and was promptly stopped in the middle of his sentence by Kai turning and starting to walk right up the stairs. Zane quickly followed, not wanting Kai to get lost again.

With a sigh, Cole followed them up.

* * *

Already it was starting to get repetitive, this fear rising up in him and making his sense go off; the _patter_ his feet made as he ran, putting every scrap of energy into fleeing. He knew he most likely could not afford another battle right now.

They had all been searching for Jay on the third floor, not quite splitting up, but searching different parts of the hallway.

And then, once again, the monster crept up behind him.

He was pretty sure he was running the wrong way, farther from Cole and Kai.

He could find them later. Just as soon as he got _away from this thing-!_

The hallway ended with a right turn.

Which ended with a door.

* * *

The rooms in the mansion all looked so _similar_ , he'd noticed. White walls, golden wood floors...Nya (and maybe Jay) would probably have tried to redecorate all the rooms, just to make them seem less boring. It was just something they seemed to dislike.

The room he was in was relatively small, and mostly empty. The thing that stood out the most was a blue lever sticking out of the wall, and a scrap of paper pinned to the wall next to it.

Despite his common sense telling him he should definitely try to reunite with Cole and Kai, his curiosity overwhelmed it and he walked over to the lever.

" _Up is Heaven._

 _Middle is Earth._

 _Down is Hell,"_ he read.

…. _'What an odd note,'_ he thought….but he wanted to see what pulling the lever would do. He made to pull the switch upward-

A sudden twinge of dread pulsed through him.

Pushing the lever up certainly seemed like the best option-after all, it was a choice between heaven and hell. But something was urging him not to do so.

Strangely, the idea of pulling the lever down didn't set off any alarm bells in his head.

Praying that it wasn't a mistake and taking a deep breath, Zane heaved the switch down.

A box on the other side of the room moved.

When he went over to examine, he saw that the wooden floor was broken. A yawning, black hole had been hidden by the box.

He didn't feel the wooden boards starting to give until it was too late, and he yelped in surprise as he started to fall.

* * *

" _Oof._ "

Which was the sound Zane made when he landed on a carpeted floor none too softly.

Picking himself up gingerly, he studied the room he was in now. The walls were white, just as they were in all the other rooms, but the floor was covered in gray carpet.

He could see a few shelves in both corners of the wall he was currently staring at. Turning around, he saw what was probably the most noticeable thing in the room.

A gleaming, pure white piano.

Zane circled around it slowly, never touching it, but just looking, noticing its condition, the way the black keys glistened.

' _Perhaps I could...play something?'_ He dismissed the idea quickly. That thing would most definitely come in and attack if it heard the music, and he didn't want that.

Although the room was big, and the door was shut….

Before he could change his mind, he played the first few measures of a random song he chose from his database-which turned out to be Turkish March. Immediately, he noticed something very strange.

' _This piano isn't off-tune at all. Even though there was no one here for years.'_

There was nothing more to do in the room, and there was nothing useful he could see, so he turned the doorknob and stepped outside.

He was on the third floor.

Well. Cole would have his thorough third floor-searching. Zane would see to that.

* * *

What he saw as soon as he opened the door and stepped in stopped him in his tracks. He could do nothing but stare in awe for a moment.

He estimated that the room was almost as big as the piano room on the other side of the floor. Filling it were rows after rows of tall, brown shelves. Book spines of all sorts lined them.

Had he been a bit more distractible, he definitely would tried to read some of the books. Or, at the very least, peer at the titles on the spines. It'd be a good glance at what the previous owners of the mansion had been like.

Soft footsteps from his far right, slow at first, then speeding up a little, made him tense up and wrench his gaze away from the shelves upon shelves of books. But it was not the monster approaching him.

"Zane!?"

Zane's blue eyes widened slightly as he saw a blue-clad teen run up to him excitedly, with a worn-looking brown book in hand. "Jay?"

"Oh man, you're alive! Did you get a load of that weird alien-thing? I couldn't even use my _Spinjitzu!_ At least you're okay!"

"Yes, I managed to fend it off," Zane replied, smiling softly. An alien. That hadn't occurred to him. It seemed a bit outlandish, though.

"When we first ran into it, we all split up and ran! Sorry about that," Jay said, chuckling sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head.

"There is no need to apologize. But I would like to ask what exactly is going on in this mansion... None of the exit doors or windows can be opened, and according to Cole, our phones receive absolutely no signal despite having a good connection only a couple miles before we reached the mansion. On top of that, our safety is compromised more the longer we stay here, on account of our Spinjitzu not working."

"Yeah," Jay sighed. "...It's kinda looking like we've been locked in. … Wait, you found Cole?" A nod. "What about Kai, him too?"

Zane nodded, but then paused for a moment and looked the lightning ninja over. His sense went off.

Something was wrong.

But why would Jay lie to him or hide anything? He made a note to watch Jay for any odd behavior.

"You seem quite calm, even facing the prospect that we are trapped inside here. Why is that?" he asked smoothly, scrutinizing Jay.

Jay laughed nervously. "Well, I-I dunno….I haven't been feeling too scared at all, for some reason. Maybe I'll start freaking out later!"

"That sounds likely…." Zane decided to drop it for now. If Jay really was hiding something, he didn't seem ready to tell.

"Hey, you said you found Kai and Cole, right? Where are they?" Jay changed the subject,

"I do not know, actually….I got split up from them by that monster. I only know they're most likely on the fourth floor."

"Let's go find them, then! I found a few things while I was looking around-" Jay pulled a couple onigiri and soda bottles "-that could really help us!"

"Oh, you found some of those, too? They are quite strange, aren't they?"

"Yeah, and also really cool! Let's go!"

They searched the fourth floor in search of Kai and Cole for a while. Finally, in a room with a grand, plush red love seat with gold embellishment and a couple shelves, they found them.

But not in the way they were expecting.

Kai had his back pressed to a bookshelf. Cole was moving around with his scythe, attacking with it.

Only a few feet in front of them, cornering them, was the thing.


	4. The First of Many (Bad) Decisions

"Guys!" Jay called out.

Kai whipped around to look at them. "...You found Jay! Zane, that's great! Now, uh…..little help here?"

"Yeah, that would be nice," Cole grunted, slicing at the monster in front of him before leaping back out of its reach.

"I take it you will be able to help me, Jay?" Zane asked, readying his shurikens and assessing the thing's state.

"What kinda question is that? Of course I will!"

* * *

"...Okay, that is really creepy," Jay commented, watching as the large body slowly evanesced from existence.

"Tell me about it," Kai agreed. "There are so many things wrong with this place, I'd rather get out as soon as possible."

A beat.

"... Next thing you know, a vampire'll pop out from some corner and try to suck your blood," he joked.

"Don't jinx our luck, Kai!" Jay warned, dramatically lowering his voice. "We've already got a weird alien-ghoul-whatsit after us!"

"Whatever," Kai replied, rolling his eyes playfully.

"Seriously, though! Whenever you say there's no way something could happen, it happens! Remember when-"

Kai abruptly clasped his hand over Jay's mouth. "We do not speak about that."

Surprisingly enough, Jay did not proceed to yell out the remainder of the sentence. Which was all well enough for Kai, who needed no more reminders of the one time he'd walked into the Bounty's dining room proclaiming how much of a better chef he was than Cole, only to have the food burn because it had been on the stove too long on too high a temperature.

….That night he'd had to hide from four ninja and an irritated sibling who were much more livid and much less filled with the chicken they'd been anticipating for dinner.

"Cole, Zane, you can shut up now," he mumbled, shooting them the stink eye when they just kept laughing.

"Oh, man, good times," Cole got out once they'd all finally stifled their laughter.

"Indeed. Things always seemed much more...simpler, in a way, back then, didn't they?"

The atmosphere shifted suddenly. As the people assigned to protect Ninjago, they just did their best to keep moving forward, always trying to stay in the moment. It didn't really seem like a good idea to let themselves reminisce on the past…on "better times". Because Zane was right, and things really had been so much simpler and they'd been more carefree back then, and all they'd had to worry about was beating up Serpentine and placing Garmadon's brat in his place….but look where they were now.

"Err...," Jay's tremulous voice broke into Kai's thoughts. "How about….let's not think about that?" Jay's voice was shaking ever so slightly, he noticed. Must not have been the most pleasant train of thought for him, either.

"Well, hey," Cole cut in, getting everyone's minds back on their current situations. "At least you're okay, Jay. You know, we were looking for you forever." Jay grunted softly but didn't respond otherwise. "I feel like that monster could come back at any time. Can we try to find a room that's safe?"

"Does one of those even exist in here?" Kai huffed.

"...Fine, then. A room that's as safe as possible. How's that?"

"Works." Kai smirked.

* * *

"What the heck is this, Zane?"

"Do not ask _me,_ I am merely the one who pulled that lever; I am not the one who laid out the designs or constructed the mansion-"

"Whoa, there, enough with the robo-snark. Geez, I don't think Kai could get burned any worse by now," Jay snickered, approaching the lever to take a closer look, before his chortles abruptly died away.

"Wait…..why. Zane, why."

"Why...what?" He glanced at Jay, confused as to what he meant.

" _Why_ would you pull the scary lever to 'Hell'? When is that _ever_ a good idea!?"

"I wanted to pull the lever up, but it set off my sixth sense...It was telling me that it was a bad idea." Zane scrutinized the lever for a moment, pulling the lever down to Earth, wincing when the lever broke off as he pulled.

"Zaaane, what did you _do_ -!?" Jay looked ready to unleash the full extent of his panic on Zane. Kai gave him a 'wow-good-going" look.

"I swear, I didn't pull on the lever with _that_ much force!"

A moment later, a soft 'clink' sounded behind him.

Jay dashed to the sound. "Whoa, look at this!" Zane abandoned the lever fragment he held in his hands and joined Kai, seeing that Jay had picked something up off the ground.

It was a key. Etched into its round handle were the words "Second Floor key".

"At least we know where it goes." Jay quickly tried to polish the key with his sweater, before tucking it into one of his pockets.

"A key?" The three turned to see Cole walking up to them, with….

"Okay, why are you carrying that box?" Indeed, the earth ninja was carrying a wooden box.

"I found a little matchbox inside it-it's even got some matches in it! I figured that if we're going to stay the night, we might as well have a nice fire going to keep us warm, and we could burn this box as fuel. There's gotta be a fireplace _somewhere_ in a place like this."

"Now _that_ sounds like a good idea," Kai grinned, eyes lighting up at the thought of a fire. The horrific atmosphere stifling the mansion was making everyone chilly.

"Indeed, it's good thinking," Zane agreed. "And if we can find a room that is big enough for all four of us to comfortably sleep in, then we can use the key we found to lock the door so nothing comes in."

"Let's go find that room, then," Jay announced, striding off impatiently.

* * *

The soft 'click' of the door being locked was much louder than it should have been.

It was a bit of a comfort, actually, to know that there was a solid barrier between them and the rest of the mansion.

"Ahhh, _yes_ , _hello_ , _I love you soft bed and pillows_ -"

"I get it, Jay, you love the beds," Cole interrupted, raising a shaggy eyebrow. "Believe me, I do too, but can we discuss some things first?"

"You wanna talk?" Jay snorted, sauntering up to the table in the center of the room and pulling up a chair. "Fine then."

Kai placed the box in the fireplace, reaching in it with his arm and checking to see whether there was anything inside. He pulled his arm back out, clutching a piece of paper. He didn't bother to read it, instead choosing to light a match and set fire to the box. Kai sighed blissfully as the box went up in warm orange tongues of fire, soaking up the heat. Oh, how he'd missed the comforting sensation of the flickering flames.

Seating himself in a chair as well, Kai motioned to Zane to start talking.

"It wouldn't be good if we let down our guard too much, but I do think this is a safe place for us to rest for tonight-the door's locked, and we have the key."

"Uh...Zane?"

"Yes, Cole?"

"How do we know it's nighttime? I feel like my watch isn't working right," he said, glancing at his wrist. "It's been frozen on 5:25 all this time."

Zane sighed. "...I did not pay it the utmost of concern at first, but now that you have brought it up, my internal clock has lost its rhythm as well. It is a little disconcerting…"

"My phone's saying it's noon. Which can't be right," Jay muttered.

"My watch's frozen at eight," Kai offered, groaning. "Lovely. All our clocks are messed up."

"It would appear that way…."

"Let's worry about that once we've slept for a good few hours, please?" Jay moaned, yawning.

"Ya know….I found this piece of paper inside that wooden box, but I kinda agree with you. Let's talk about this when we wake up, shall we?"

"Hang on...someone needs to keep watch, don't they?" Cole interjected. "Otherwise it really isn't safe."

"Sleep is not mandatory for me; I'll keep watch overnight," Zane offered.

"How about a round of 'rock-paper-clamp'? Loser has to take the shift after Zane. Save it," Jay said when he saw Zane's mouth open in protest. "Even if you're a nindroid, it's still good for you to take a break."

"...Thank you, Jay...is that alright with you?" But by the time he'd asked the question, the three were already engaged in a life-or-death game of rock-paper-clamp.

"Rock….paper…..clamp…. _Shoot!_ "

All of the players wore a markedly determined look as they tapped their fists and cast the figure of their choice.

No one noticed the shadow that crossed Jay's face.

* * *

"...Hnngh...wha'...?" Kai was rudely awaken from blissful sleep by someone softly shaking his shoulder. "Okay, who...oh," he moaned. Beside him, Jay shifted in his sleep, and he could just hear Cole's soft snores.

"I have kept watch for about four hours. It's time for your shift," Zane murmured.

"Alright, _alright_ ; I'm up, I'm up."

"Of course _I_ had to be the one to lose," Kai fumed, absently poking at the smoldering fire and moving the charred wood around. The embers slowly gave way to glorious, flickering flames. Kai pulled a chair from the table closer to the fire so he could properly soak up the heat it emanated.

He turned the chair ever so slightly, so he could see his teammates, the orange light of the fire reflecting off their faces. All was silent except for the soft crackle of the fire. It was unsettling.

It was too quiet. Not the comforting, peaceful type of quiet, either. It was the type of quiet that pressed down and squeezed until it was impossible to keep your heartbeat steady and every sound made you want to scream. It was heavy and uncomfortable.

Quiet meant it was far too easy for his thoughts to travel, no matter how much he tried to repress them.

Thoughts that, for all it was worth, really weren't worth thinking about.

His mind wandered back to when Zane had said, "Things always seemed much more...simpler, in a way, back then, didn't they?" Every part of him screamed that it was probably a bad idea to reflect on it because he really did not need that melancholia dragging at him right now, and besides, since when was he the sentimental one who was always thinking about things, but a small voice in him couldn't stop pointing out that Zane was _right_.

Because when he thought about it, at some point, they'd stopped treating their obligation to Ninjago like it was a fun adventure or a game, they'd stopped poking at each other the first chance they had, they'd stopped believing everything would work out perfectly, no matter what. At some point, it'd sunk in that things were, in fact, so much more complex now. Because back then, they hadn't had to worry about prophecies or torn friendships or battles that determined the fate of thousands, and by extension, the fate of Ninjago's history. They hadn't had to constantly step on eggshells, watching everything they said and did, even though they knew each other better than anyone. They hadn't had to feel so much pain.

A chill ran down his spine.

' _I told you so_ ,' his mind said, more so admonishing than smug. Kai wearily acknowledged it, feeling a bit miserable from just how dark a turn his thoughts are taken (hadn't they come to this stupid place to do something fun and not worry in the first place?) He absently poked and stabbed at the coals. There might have even been some aimless anger in the mindless thrusts of his katana.

...Wait. The chill hadn't been the result of his reflection. He suddenly noticed, now that he wasn't absorbed in his own thinking, how much colder the room felt, even though the fire was burning.

Then suddenly, there was the sound of someone-something?-banging on the door, quickly and forcefully.

His heart skipped a beat as he jumped out of the chair. Why weren't the others waking up? After so long being ninja, they were possibly the lightest sleepers in Ninjago. The banging should have been more than enough to wake them up!

"Um, _guys_?" He hissed, careful not to be so loud that it heard him. Who knew, it might go away if no one responded. " _Guys!?_ Come on, I know you're tired, but I could seriously use a little help right here…..!"

Miraculously, not a single one of them stirred.

' _Okay, that's just great! Come on, come on...what else could I do? I can't fight it on my own…_ '

Or could he?

As soon as the thought entered his brain, he berated himself. _'Come on, seriously? Just don't open the door. You don't need to go off and get yourself killed just because you were stupid.'_

But then again, there was the fact that no matter what, his friends would not wake up.

The banging had ceased for a couple seconds before, but then came more angry knocking.

...He could finish it off right now, couldn't he? Yes, he'd been overpowered last time, but he had the advantage of possibly getting in an attack before it tried to kill him. And he knew its weak spots were its head and chest, too. IIt was better than going the entire night hearing that knocking, because somehow, Kai got the feeling that it was definitely going to try that on him.

He didn't realize just how much he was shaking until he tried to take the key out of his pocket with his free hand, holding his katana in a position where he could easily attack with the other hand. Kai tried taking several breaths to calm himself down, but his heart wouldn't stop rushing and the little bit of guilt nibbling at him wouldn't go away. What if he really did get hurt? Then what?

' _If that really does happen, then….I'm sorry, you guys…'_

Hands sweaty and trembling, he pushed the key into the keyhole. But he didn't turn the key just yet, dwelling on the pros and cons a little longer, nervously wondering what everyone else would do if the worst-case scenario happened.

He furrowed his brows, drawing up his courage. ' _Come on, I'm the fire ninja! I've got this...I'm_ not _going down that easily.'_

Resolutely, he turned the key and opened the door, running out with his katana raised.

The door slammed shut behind him.

* * *

" _You can not easily set foot into that 'mysterious mansion' in your town. Because if you anger its former occupant, you will not get away lightly ... Especially when there are no people there…"_

* * *

Five pairs of shoes met the worn path, making the gravel crunch underfoot.

The sun was shining and it had warmed their skin as they walked up the path, but as they approached, the building cast intimidating shadows over the ground.

They stopped in front of the mansion, sizing it up.

"Well, what do you know," a voice chuckled wryly. "It's actually here."

"Jay wouldn't have any reason to lie about it, Skylor."

"Yes, Lloyd, but those were rumors, not facts."

"Spoopy," another person with spiky greyish hair commented, grinning. He was met with three annoyed glances and a sigh of " _Ash_ ," from Skylor.

"What!? Griffin's with me. Right, Griffin?" Griffin grinned in response.

"He has point, though. Feels very...empty. Karlof does not like it one bit."

"Yeah...why would Jay want to go someplace like... _this_?" All Lloyd got was a shrug from Skylor. "I feel like he'd rather drag us to the nearest TechCon," he continued. Goodness knows Jay had geeked out over inventions, machines, and occasionally Zane when Lloyd had still been a kid.

"Well...okay. How about this. We go inside and take a quick look. If we don't like what we see inside, we text the others and tell them not to come. Does that sound alright?" Karlof and Griffin were nodding. Ash shrugged.

"That sounds fine," Skylor said, "but I do have a noodle house to run….we can't stay in there too long anyway."

"Well, why are we standing around here, then?" Ash asked, impatiently tapping his foot. "Let's go inside already."

* * *

 **Okay, first off, huge shout out to Saturniidae. It's a fanfic written by ShinyShiny9, one of my best friends, and if you have not already read it, good grief, you don't know what you're missing. The characters are all** _ **perfect.**_ **And I may or may not have blatantly taken some of the ideas and stuck them in here. Sorry, Shiny. I probably didn't do it any justice. (And now I'm wondering if it doesn't really belong in here and it's not doing anything useful.)**


	5. Reunion, Part Two

White walls, golden-brown floors. Everywhere he looked it was the same, and even after they'd gone up to the second floor, nothing seemed too different. It was a little unnerving, if he was to be honest.

"It's a lot cleaner than you'd expect of an abandoned mansion; no dust or anything…..Hey, Lloyd, are you alright?"

"Huh?" Lloyd turned to Skylor, who was looking at him with some concern. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know," Skylor said. "You seem a little...spaced-out."

"Can you blame me?", Lloyd said, taking an uneasy look at his surroundings again. "This place is giving me a really bad feeling."

"I know it's creepy, and it smells really weird on top of that; trust me, I don't like it either. But since when do you let that stop you?"

"Not just creepy," Lloyd sighed. "It's...worse than that, somehow." Skylor just stayed quiet, nodding for him to continue. "It feels like there's nothing here, like no one's here."

"Karlof and Griffin are on the floor below us," Skylor pointed out.

"Yeah, I know...but it's like…" Lloyd struggled to find the right word for a moment. "Empty. It feels empty." Skylor didn't look like she completely understood, but she nodded and dropped the subject. Ash, silent thus far, huffed and eyed a nearby door, but said nothing.

"Let's keep looking around upstairs.," Skylor suggested at last.

"I like that idea…" Lloyd looked at a nearby room, stomach lurching uncomfortable. "I'd rather leave searching around here for last."

"I'll stay here," Ash said, suddenly. Both of his companions turned to him, surprised.

"I just said this place gives off a really bad aura! That isn't exactly safe," Lloyd replied, dismayed.

"Hey, if there's nothing here, I don't see why it's unsafe. And even if there's danger…" Ash punched his fist and smirked. "I can deal with it."

"Alright….", Lloyd murmured. He wasn't completely convinced, but Ash could defend himself just fine. He was probably worrying too much.

"Alright. If that's agreed, we'll meet you back here in a half hour," Skylor said, already turning and walking up the stairs. Lloyd hesitated a moment longer, sending an uneasy glance at his surroundings, before following.

* * *

"Well, isn't that nice," Skylor muttered, scrutinizing the lever they'd found a moment longer before turning. "I have no idea why anyone would pull it down."

"That's...creepy. But it doesn't seem too important," Lloyd said. "I think we've seen everything there is; let's go meet back up with Ash. I hope he hasn't gotten into any trouble..."

"He said he'd be fine," Skylor said reassuringly. "Come on, we haven't run into trouble yet. He probably hasn't either…. Are you sure you're alright? You seem really nervous. You're the leader of your group, aren't you?"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Lloyd sighed apologetically. "But I've told you why I'm nervous….let's go, then."

* * *

"It's been well over thirty minutes," Skylor groused. "What's taking him so long? Aaaash! Where are you?", she called again.

"We've searched most of this floor. Maybe he's downstairs," Lloyd proposed.

"Wait a moment," Skylor interjected, walking towards a room they hadn't explored yet. Inside were a few beds, a table, and a fireplace. Wisps of smoke trailed from black ashes, with brown bits and splinters sticking out here and there.

"Burnt wood," Lloyd said, eyes widening.

"Well, now we know what's causing that smell," Skylor said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Not only that," Lloyd whispered. "That means that there's people here, other than us. Did Cole's group decide to come here earlier than us?"

"Why would they do something like that?", Skylor asked, looking a little confused.

"I don't know. But if they're here, how come we haven't seen them yet?" The more Lloyd thought about it, the bigger the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach grew. He knew something had seemed off when he'd stepped through the bland doors of the mansion.

"I think I see what you're saying," Skylor said, starting to sound worried herself. "But I don't get how they can be here. Right before we came in, I sent a text to Kai saying we'd arrived and he texted "Alright! Tell me what it's like! :D". That was from Jamanakai Village….so there's no way they're here."

"Oh...but then how do we explain this?"

"I dunno! This is weird… Maybe you're right and something is going on-"

A loud, metallic clang interrupted them.

Both of them were shocked into silence for a moment. Then, Skylor murmured, "That must be Karlof!"

"What about Ash?" Lloyd insisted.

"We can see if he's downstairs, now come on!" Skylor dashed down the stairs, and Lloyd followed. They both stopped for a moment to figure out where the sound was coming from, and upon hearing noise to his left, Lloyd ran down that hall and went into a kitchen. The sight that met the both of them made them stop in their tracks, unable to do anything but stare at the scene, awe-struck.

Karlof had his back to a sink in a corner of the kitchen, fists up in front of his face. Cornering him was a large, ominous creature. (To be sure, it was no Devourer or Overlord, but it was pretty big and awe-inspiring all the same. )

"...What…" Skylor was completely lost for words. Understandably.

"Took you long enough," Karlof grunted, taking a swing at the monster. It backed away for a moment, then closed in on him again. "Now help Karlof already!"

"R-right!", Lloyd said, stepping closer to the thing and readying a ball of energy. Behind him, Skylor pulled out her longbow and set fire to the tip-probably because an arrow on its own wouldn't do much against a beast of that size. Both fired at the same time, hitting its chest. It stumbled back with a roar but recovered quickly, swiping at them. Lloyd noted with a twinge of fear the length of its claws as he jumped out of the way and whirled into a green tornado of Spinjitzu.

He never had the chance to strike. The tornado fizzled out and left him on the floor. The monster turned towards him and raised a hand.

"Get up, Lloyd!" An arrow flew past his head and hit the monster square in the face, and Skylor stepped forward threateningly. Karlof swung at it again, forcing it back. Forcing back the shock of his failed attack, Lloyd fired another ball of energy at it, hitting it in the chest. For a moment, their offense seemed to have worked, but then it struck back, hitting Skylor in the stomach and sending her staggering into the wall.

Seeing it turn towards her, Lloyd moved in front of Skylor, attacking it again.

But he hadn't noticed its hand moving towards him, and Karlof's warning, until it was too late. A heavy hand slammed into his chest, knocking the wind out of him and throwing him to the floor. Lloyd vaguely registered stinging pain on his cheek and touched it. His hand came back red at the fingertips. Beside him, Karlof was still aiming blows at the monster, but powerful and precise as they were, they hardly seemed to faze the thing. It hit him, throwing his balance off, then knocked him down while he was recovering.

'Oh no,' he thought, scrabbling to get up as it approached them, jet-black eyes glinting. He barely had any energy to channel into fighting, Spinjitzu wasn't working at all, his power was almost useless….

"I knew this place was trouble," Lloyd whispered. He could barely summon a single, feeble spark, much less muster anything that would actually damage the monster.

'Looks like you were right," Skylor murmured from behind him, backing into the wall and trying to attack the monster with ice. Predictably, it did almost nothing.

It took another threatening step, closing in on them.

The only thing that was left was for them to run, but Lloyd had no idea how badly Skylor or Karlof were hurt. Were they really going to…?

He never had the chance to finish his thought.

The door burst open and a blur of silver ran up and attacked the monster, and actually hurting it. Then Zane stood in front of them, facing it.

"I won't allow you to hurt my friends."

Lloyd couldn't believe it. "Z-Zane!?"

"METAL MAN!", Karlof crowed.

"It's a good thing I finally found you," Zane said, briefly turning and smiling at them. "But we'll have to wait a little bit before we can discuss anything. Excuse me while I deal with this."

"It's pretty strong, though….Are you sure you don't want our help?", Skylor asked.

"Don't worry about that," Zane replied. "It must have taken a lot out of you, so allow me to pay it back in kind."

Lloyd watched in awe as Zane made short work of the monster, his attacks purposeful and strong.

"I hope you all are alright?", Zane asked, turning to them after the monster had disappeared and holding out his hand.

"Nothing bad," Lloyd responded, brushing himself off and grabbing the offered hand. Zane pulled him up, then proceeded to help Skylor. Karlof merely huffed and pushed himself up.

"Anyway, that was incredible, Zane! There's no way that was your first time fighting it….was it?"

"What...are you talking about?", Zane said, sounding confused. "Haven't you fought it, too? You did get here first, after all."

"Zane, we've barely been here an hour," Skylor replied, furrowing her brow. "And you're not even supposed to be here…."

At Zane's bewildered look, Lloyd chimed in to explain. "Skylor texted Kai, and then he sent her something back from the meeting place. Right?"

"Yes...and then we all came here…"

Karlof spoke up. "It take us three hours to get here! Really, we only been here one hour."

"...There is a lot that we need to talk about then," Zane said, trying not to think too hard about the whole thing. There was only so much his logical parameters could take, and he could really go without accidentally shutting himself down because he'd thought too hard over a paradox. "Let's go to the second floor; there's a safe room there."

* * *

"Hey, Cole." Jay knocked on the iron door. "I think Zane's found the others. Let's go."

Jay stepped back as the door swung open and Cole came out.

"Alright. Where are they?"

"Safe room."

"What Zane said," Jay said. "Are you good now, Cole?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Zane, you said they're in the safe room, so let's go."

* * *

"I'm sorry for making you wait," Zane said. "Now, I'll explain our situation."

"First, we received Skylor's message and decided that it would be a good time to set off for the mansion. I was going to take a look around, but then that monster from before showed up and attacked them."

"Were you guys alright!?", Lloyd asked worriedly, looking at his friends.

"Yeah, we were fine," Jay said, waving a hand dismissively. "I mean, we got split up and it seemed to really wanna get a bite of me...but I lost it eventually."

"After that," Zane continued, "We managed to find each other again and spent the night in this room. And we had the key to the door.

"I decided to keep watch for a while, and Kai took up the next shift…." Here Zane looked uncomfortable. "When we woke up, he was gone."

"He left a blood trail, so we followed that," Cole chimed in. "But after a while, the trail just….ended." Skylor looked notably upset, but kept quiet.

"And then we tried looking for him," Jay cut in dejectedly. "But we decided it was too risky."

"Yes, and then I found you," Zane said, wrapping up their explanation. "But I thought Ash and Griffin said they were coming as well?"

"No, they came," Skylor said. "We split up into two groups, though-Lloyd, Ash and I were up here while Griffin and Karlof stayed on the first floor."

"Something felt off about...all of this," Lloyd continued, gesturing vaguely around the room. "So Skylor and I went and explored the other floors, and Ash insisted on staying down here. But when we came back here, Ash was gone."

Skylor picked up from there, frowning. "Then we heard something from the floor below us and went downstairs. And Karlof was fighting that thing."

"And that when metal man come," Karlof said.

"Hang on," Lloyd cut in. "Griffin was nowhere to be seen when you were fighting that thing. What happened there?"

"Griffin try to fight it, but it too strong. Karlof try to fight it, but…" he rubbed the back of his head. "Karlof got knocked out, and when Karlof wake up, he gone."

"Gone?", Skylor echoed.

Cole, who up until this point had been trying to light a fire, called out, "These matches are terrible! Anyone wanna help me out here?"

"Man, if only Kai were around," Jay sighed, walking up to the fireplace and striking the matches against the box's remains in hopes of getting something to spark. Finally, a flame appeared, and Jay threw the matches into the fireplace.

A beat.

"Oh!"

"What? What is it?" Cole asked, peering into the fireplace.

"There's something in the ashes….hang on….."

"Careful," Cole cautioned-even if the flames hadn't gotten too big yet, they were still hot.

"Uh-huh. O-ow, ow, hot, hot-!" Jay precariously tossed the object a few times before it was cool enough to hold. Cole facepalmed.

"It's a key," Jay murmured, holding it up so everyone could see it.

"Where does it go?", Lloyd asked?

"Hmmm…." Jay squinted at the small, engraved text on the key. "Hallway key. Huh."

"We'll probably figure out exactly where that goes later," Zane said. "And our first priority was to find a way out of this place, but we need to find everyone who's missing first."

"We'll find them," Cole said, trying to sound optimistic. "They're stubborn; they'll be fine."

"You're….not one to talk, Cole," Lloyd pointed out.

"...Alright, fine, you might have a point there."

"Since we have a lot of ground to cover and many rooms to search, I think we should split up into three groups," Zane said.

"Three?", Skylor interrupted.

"It make some sense," Karlof murmured thoughtfully. "There six people with lot of ground to search, so can only split three ways."

"Yeah, if we're trying to ensure everyone's got at least one other person with them, that works," Skylor agreed.

"Alright. If we've agreed on that, I think we should discuss our unsynchronized clocks-"

An angry bang at the door interrupted them.

* * *

"Aaaah!"

Jay started, caught off guard and nervously looking at the door.

"It found us," Zane said, somewhat surprised. "So this room is no longer safe…."

"Was it ever?", Skylor asked brusquely. "What do we do?"

"Whoever is in my group will be responsible for dealing with that thing."

"Alright," Cole said. "Then Jay and I will look for the room that opens with this key. Be careful, Zane."

"I'll stay with Zane and help him out," Lloyd added.

"Then I guess we're a team," Skylor said, looking at Karlof.

"There one curious room on first floor-we go there."

"The one with the piano, you mean?", Skylor asked. When Karlof nodded, she turned to Cole and Jay. "If you find anything, meet us in the piano room then, I guess."

"Alright, then that's settled," Lloyd said. "Well, then…..good luck, everyone."

There was another bang, and another. With the next angry blow, the door was forced open, and everyone could clearly see the monster looming in the doorway. Gathering courage, Lloyd pulled out a sword and attacked it head-on.

Zane attacked it next, drawing it away from the other groups that were doing their best to run out the door.

"Go….now!"


	6. Sorry, Y'all

**(AN): So. You're probably wondering why there isn't much length to this. I've left you hanging and I'm deeply sorry, but I'm going to attempt to revive this! It should be on my profile - I'm not continuing this verse bc I have a few changes to the direction I wanted to eventually take with this fic. The first chapter's the same, because I'm actually proud of the language I used in there, but after that, it's different.**


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